EXPEDIT Storage Bed

Description: As we live in a condo we really needed more storage space so after visiting this site (thanks a lot for the inspiration) I decided to build my own bed, for a Queen size mattress using 3 Expedit Shelving units and the other materials previously listed.

Sadly I only have pictures of the finished product.

The whole thing is pretty simple:

Cut the 4 by 4 (you need 5 legs) to the exact width of the Shelving units. Those legs will be between the plywood INSIDE the space between the shelving units. One in the middle and one in each corner. So the weight of the mattress and the people sleeping on it will both be on the legs and the shelving units.

You need a total of 4 plywood panels, 2 for the upper panel and 2 for the lower one that rests on the floor.

The upper plywood is in 2 piece linked with a hinge so we can remove the mattress, open one side of the bed and access all that space between the shelving units.

Both upper and lower plywood are simply wrapped in a Black king size sheet and we used wood tacks to fix it.

It really give a great result and a LOT of storage space for everything we don’t use too often like camping stuff. You can put baskets in the shelving units for everything you use more often.

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Jules IKEAHacker "I am Jules, the engine behind IKEAHackers and the one who keeps this site up and running. My mission is to capture all the wonderful, inspiring, clever hacks and ideas for our much loved IKEA items".

Supposedly it can and I’m half tempted to try I’m just not sure(espiecally since i’m new to this myself). I’d love to see a twin sized version of it though since I can’t and won’t fit a king/queen sized bed in my room at my mom’s for lack of storage…

Thank you so much!!! I’ve been debating on the “under bed dresser” bed, found this and it’s perfect!!! Used some of the info from the reddit post as well!! Cabinets ordered!!! Over estimating but the whole thing won’t cost over 500$ ( the other is 1500$) you have saved me SO much money that I need for other apartment items!!! Can’t thank you enough for sharing!!! I’ll post u a pick when mine is done if ud like. again, thank you so much!!! You rock!! :-p

I’m preparing to create this bed, but I’m not able to determine whats being used to attach the 4x4s to the plywood. I’ve gone to home depot but cannot find those pieces.. and not sure if they are metal or plastic. Anyone please help.

Hello.. wondering how sturdy this is… say for couple that can get pretty “active” from time to time. we are thinking of doing 4 of these all lined up to make “tunnels” under the bed – and something else to make up the extra needed inches at the foot and head. .. covered with plywood between shelves and mattress – and attached to the wall.

Its pretty sturdy but I’m pretty sure you could make it even better. for example the shelves I used are not attached to the plywood at all, they simply sit on the bottom one and the top plywood is attached to the 4x4s but only sits on the shelves. Fixing the shelves to the bottom plywood and to the top one (the part that does not open) would give you more sturdiness

OP hereSorry for the late response! the upper part of the plywood, the part at the head of the bed, is actually attached to the middle and top corners 4×4. The only part of plywood that is only sitting there is the half that can open. The shelves aren’t attached at all but they fit just perfectly there.

Thanks so much for getting back to me! I love your design. Thanks for sharing it on here. I plan on using it after I get my new mattress around February/March. It’s just so hard to find storage beds geared towards adults. I always find children’s ones and they’re not the right size. And the adult ones don’t have that much storage space.

I have a few more questions. I hope you don’t mind.

How sturdy is it now that you’ve used if for a couple months? Any movement or sounds?

What thickness plywood did you use?

Where did you bind those cube bins that you put in the shelves? I’ve been to a few stores that carry similar ones, and they’re a bit too small. The ones you have seem to fit in there perfectly!

How well is your mattress staying put? Does it move around much?

I might think of a few more questions. I just want to be as prepared as possible when we (boyfriend and I) finally build it.

The mattress doesn’t move at all. Its easy to move when nobody is on it thought.

The plywood we used is 3/4″ thick.

The black and white fabric cube bins were available directly at the IKEA store They’re made to fit the shelves perfectly.

The bed is pretty sturdy IMO, it does crack a bit when you get in and out the bed, but I’ve never heard it while lying in bed. Plywood tend to move/curve a bit, depending on moisture, well like wood in general,so this might vary a bit.

If you build it, just make sure that you cut the 4×4 to a perfect size to fit the shelves between the plywood so the plywood sits perfectly on it, its the main challenge As you can see in the additionnal pictures on my blog, we used some metal “footing” (not sure how you call those) that you fix on the 4×4 ends and that allow you to easily fix the plywood to it so you have to considers the thickness of those too when you cut your 4×4.

Also, I strongly suggest that you buy an hinge that can cover the whole width of the bed where you can lift open the plywood, this way the two separate plywood pieces stay perfectly aligned.

A simple way to calculate the 4×4 length is to add one footing to each end first, before cutting anything , to see how much it adds, then simply substract this from the length you need (Note: the shelves width is the distance between the plywood) So if the two footings add half an inch together, and lets say you need 20 inches then 20 – ½ = 19½ inches.

Just saw that my post was published! Thanks for all the great comments! I’ll see If I can post some pictures of it without the mattress and with the top panel opened tonight, I’ve got some stuff to put in there anyways.

One on each side and one at the foot of the bed. As you can imagine there is a lot of empty space between the shelving units so we place 5 4×4 support, one in the middle and one in each corner, which really gives a lot of support. More photos to come tonight I hope.

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